


Love Letters

by CarrKicksDoor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: New Jedi Order Era - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-15
Updated: 2012-02-15
Packaged: 2017-10-31 06:12:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/340832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarrKicksDoor/pseuds/CarrKicksDoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At heart, Talon Karrde was a coward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Letters

**Author's Note:**

> Directly after Edge of Victory: Conquest

***   
  
Scraps of flimsy lay scattered across the room, some crumpled carelessly on the table top, others thrown halfway across the room in frustration. The pad that had spawned such cursed writing material sat in the lap of a man, scribbling upon it in deep concentration.   
  
The man impatiently ran a hand through his grey-streaked hair, probably marking his scalp with ink from the pen in his hand. He un-propped his legs from the table, settling his feet on the floor as he reread the words he’d put down. Sighing, he ripped the sheet, crumpled it up into as small a ball as he could manage and threw it. It bounced off the wall, disappearing behind the bureau.   
  
Talon Karrde threw the pad down on the table, trading it for the cup of caf that had been cooling for at least the last nine attempts at his project. He took a sip and made a face and rose to get a fresh cup.   
  
He leaned against the countertop, taking a sip, and the dim lights flickered once again. Glancing upwards, he sighed. The _Wild Karrde_ and the _Etherway_ were both berthed in the main docking bays of the _Errant Venture_ for repairs following the rescue of the Jedi children from Yavin. Other, more able, ships had gone their own ways, and the crew of the ill-fated _Idiot’s Array_ had relocated to the _Wild Karrde_ and the _Starry Ice_.   
  
Ironically, that was his problem. Not that the crew of the _Array_ had moved, but the fact that they all had nearly died in the battle. He’d nearly lost not only an experienced crew, but his second-in-command.   
  
It’d taken him nearly seven years before he’d realized what Shada D’ukal meant to him. So, here he was, trying to write a letter to her, as much to explain it to himself as to her. Because, at heart, Talon Karrde was a coward.   
  
So he started again, returning to the pad of flimsy, scribbling furiously to work this out. He wasn’t even sure that he had the courage to give the letter to her if he ever finished. If.   
  
The door to his quarters rang, and he tossed the pad away in frustration. “Who is it?”   
  
“Shada,” she said. A sudden panic he hadn’t felt since he was a child, hiding food in his room, nearly overtook him, and he ripped the flimsy from the pad, hurriedly sweeping his other efforts into the wastebasket. He stuck the basket under the table, satisfied that he’d gotten everything out of sight, and he opened the door. “Come in.”   
  
She walked in, as she had nearly every day since she’d come to work for him. “Repairs are going well, although Booster keeps asking when we’re leaving.”   
  
Karrde’s mouth twitched sardonically. “Whenever we’re ready. Which may be in a few days or a few years.”   
  
“You do get an inordinate amount of joy out of tormenting Booster,” she said, sitting down in his favorite chair.   
  
“And he does the same with me. Caf?”   
  
She tipped her head back over the edge of the chair, looking at him upside down. “Love some.”   
  
He poured another cup of the caf, giving it a drop of sweetener, the way she liked it, before he brought it to her. She took a sip, and made a face. “How long have you had that on?”   
  
He shrugged, taking a drink of his own, and belatedly realized that it had burned. “I’ll start a new pot. That’s been sitting there a couple of hours.”   
  
“You must have gotten involved in calculating how much you’re going to owe Booster for this mess,” she said.   
  
He shook his head. “Not really. Since we went after his grandchildren for him, he’s letting me have this one for free.”   
  
“Booster never gives away anything for free,” she warned.   
  
“Captain?” the intercom buzzed towards him.   
  
Karrde sighed, reluctant to interrupt his conversation, but depressed the button anyway. “Yes?”   
  
“Do you mind coming up here for a minute? I can’t find Shada, and one of the repair crews has a question.”   
  
“I’ll go,” Shada said, rising, but Karrde dismissed her movement.   
  
“It’s nothing. I’ll be right back. Feel free to start a new pot of caf.”   
  
Shada laughed, a sound he reveled in whenever he heard it, and he saw her digging around in his kitchenette before the door closed behind him.   
  
She rummaged around a bit more, looking for something to snack on while she waited for the caf to brew. A package of dried sweetberries caught her attention—Karrde had stolen them from the galley before she could get to them—and she pulled them out in satisfaction.   
  
Opening the package, she returned to her seat, tucking her legs underneath her. She took a bite of a sweetberry, and pulled the pit out. She peered over the side of the chair to find the wastebasket shoved underneath the end table. Frowning, she gave it a yank, pulling it from its unnatural position.   
  
She paused before tossing the pit into basket, distracted by the mounds of crumpled flimsy stuffed inside. Glancing over her shoulder, she pulled out the top sheet, and gently spread it out, the pit of the berry finding its way back into the bag with the rest of the berries. Biting back the guilty feeling, she began to read.   
  
By the time the door opened, she had five pieces of flimsy spread out over the table, her hand over her mouth, lost in the distinctive handwriting.   
  
“You would not believe-“ he began, and she jumped, her hair swinging as she whipped around. His eyes found the source of her uncharacteristic surprise, and his face began to feel uncomfortably warm as she quickly stacked the flimsies into a neat pile. “Shada—I’m sorry. I never meant for you to find those.“   
  
“Oh,” she said, her hands falling away from where they were nervously smoothing out the pages. “I thought I was going to get a final draft.”   
  
Talon Karrde, for once in his life, was speechless. The tone of her statement was not one of indifference or mocking, but disappointment. “Are you upset?” he managed to force from his throat.   
  
“No,” she said, her own voice sounding a bit strained. “Actually, I’m very flattered.”   
  
The word ‘flattered’ deflated his ego even more. “Ah.”   
  
She rose, her hand resting on the top of the chair. “Don’t look like that.”   
  
“Look like what?”   
  
“Like someone killed your vornskr.”   
  
He tried to look offended, and felt he only succeeded in looking even more melancholy.   
  
“I think it’s very—“ she struggled for the right word. “Very attractive.”   
  
She glanced to the side, and picked up the wastebasket. Leaning into him, she gently pressed her lips to his. “And I can’t wait to see what the rest of them say.”   
  
He set the basket on the floor. “Let me tell you instead.”   
  
***


End file.
